Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

and as I pull myself up, I feel for the first time like I might actually escape. There is nothing waiting for me on the other side of the wall but sunlight and solitude. All I have to do is jump down and I will be safe.

I take a deep breath and leap from the wall, falling fast down to the floor but feeling totally relaxed about it as I go. That’s because I know I am leaving behind the helicopter, the police officers and the vicious dogs.

The ground comes up at me quickly, and I brace for impact before feeling nothing.

I am standing on the soft ground, and there is not a scratch on me from my endeavours. I can’t even feel the pain in my ankle anymore. A quick check behind me confirms that the wall is still in place, and that means the people and animals pursuing me are stuck on the other side of it.

Glancing up to the clear blue sky above, I see no trace of the helicopter that tormented me for so long either. In fact, I see no trace of anything. Not a single cloud is in the sky. It’s beautiful, and it feels like everything is going to be okay now.

With that in mind, I no longer have to run, so I set off walking. I don’t have a particular destination in mind, but I feel like time is on my side.

I’m no longer being chased. I’m no longer wanted.

I am no longer on the run.

And then I see him. The man standing by himself ten feet in front of me.

It’s Adam. He is holding out his hand. He wants me to come towards him.

Of course I do. He is my husband. We are together again. We are both free.

But then he vanishes.

Where has he gone?

Suddenly the sky darkens overhead, and the rain crashes down on me in waves. The rumble from above is not from a helicopter but the thunder from the large storm that is passing over. The rainwater is rising quickly at my feet, and within seconds it is above my ankles. I’m going to drown if I stay down here.

I need to get to higher ground and fast.

I turn back to the wall and run towards it, feeling assured that I will be safe just as soon as I pull myself back up on top of it again. But this time is different. I can’t seem to jump as high now, which means that I can’t reach the edge and pull myself up.

The rainwater is above my knees, and I look down to watch it quickly engulf my waist.

I lash around in the water for any way out of it, but there is none. Suddenly the dogs don’t seem so frightening anymore. Suddenly I would rather deal with them then face this rising tide. That’s because I know I am going to drown and there is no scarier thought than that.

I close my eyes and hold my breath as the water rises up above my head and takes me under. I guess this is it. No point resisting now. At least it will be over quickly. At least I will finally find some peace from the incessant running I have been doing for so long.

Just before my lungs burst and the water rushes into my mouth, I open my eyes, and I see Adam. He is floating right in front of me, yet he seems to be having no trouble breathing. In fact, he seems to be laughing. And then he points at something.

I look to my left and see Bradley floating face down beside me. It’s clear he is already dead. I stifle a scream because I don’t want the water to rush into my mouth yet, even though I know I only have a few more seconds to live now. Then I notice that Adam is pointing to something else on the other side of me and while I don’t know what it is, I have a feeling that it is going to be far worse than what I have just seen.

I slowly turn my head and brace myself for what awaits but this time there is no stopping the scream as it escapes my mouth. Samuel is floating beside me, but he is just as unfortunate as Bradley was.

I cry out for my baby, and I try to take hold of him, but the water carries him away, and now my lungs are full of that same liquid.

Slowly, I sink to the depths of this awful reservoir of death, but I’m not alone as I go. Adam is with me as I tumble down.

And he is laughing all the way.

44

LAURA

I wake with a scream so loud that Adam almost falls out of bed beside me.

‘Jesus, Laura! What is it?’ he asks as he grabs my arm and looks into my eyes, but I pull myself away from him, rushing to the doorway in a desperate bid to leave this room as quickly as I can.

‘Laura?’ he calls out, but I ignore him and get inside the bathroom, locking the door and leaning back against it until I can get my breath back and figure out what the hell I just experienced.

There are nightmares, and then there is that awful scenario that just flashed through my mind. What was that? I don’t know, but I feel like I want to be as far away as possible from Adam until I do.

‘Laura? Are you okay?’

I hear my husband on the other side of the door, and while I am sure he looks concerned for me right now, all I can see is his laughing face watching me drown in my dream. It was pure evil, and I can’t shake off that feeling, even if I know I’m awake now and it wasn’t real.

‘I’m